The U.S. Supreme Court upholding the ObamaCare legislation puts Catholic rights in jeopardy. The only way Catholic non-profits could have survived the encroachment of the federal government on their right not to buy insurance for services they deem immoral was if the entire ObamaCare legislation had been struck down. That did not happen. The Supreme Court [...]
In December, the Catholic League filed a complaint against Rebekah Nett and Naomi Isaacson for anti-Catholic comments made in a Minnesota courtroom. Nett was counsel to Isaacson, herself an Orthodox Jewish attorney. In June, the Minnesota Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, the office that we filed complaint with, issued charges against Nett. It is not certain [...]
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK William Donohue Some of the worst expressions of injustice occur between family and friends, outside the purview of others. Public forms of injustice, such as criminal behavior, are dealt with in the courts. Sometimes they mesh, such as when Ponzi schemes involving friends become front-page news. Worse still are examples of injustice [...]
Religious and ethnic loyalties are important to me. I am proud to be Catholic and proud to be Irish. I am also very proud to be an American. But pride absent an intelligent appreciation of one’s roots quickly descends to tribalism, and that is not good for the individual or the society. For example, we need [...]
Leading up to the Supreme Court’s decision on ObamaCare, two developments offered new evidence that the confrontation between the Catholic Church and the Obama administration was nearing a collision course. In May, attorneys for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) made plain their objections to the alleged “accommodations” offered by the Department of Health [...]
In late June, the jury in the trial of two Philadelphia Catholic priests reached a verdict. Msgr. William Lynn was acquitted of conspiracy; on the two charges of child endangerment, he was acquitted on one of them, and found guilty on the other. In addition to the decision on Lynn, the jury was deadlocked on two [...]
In late May dozens of lawsuits were filed against the Obama administration by a number of Catholic organizations. At the heart of these lawsuits is the constitutionality of the Health and Human Services edict seeking to force Catholic non-profits to pay for abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptive services and sterilization in their insurance plans. It was a great [...]
The central issue in the fight between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church is the right of the federal government to redefine religious institutions as entities that hire and serve mostly people of their own faith. Secondarily, the fight is over forcing Catholics to pay for abortion-inducing drugs. But one looks in vain for the [...]
June 21 marked the beginning of the “Fortnight for Freedom”, the campaign for religious liberty conducted by the nation’s bishops. Fair-minded persons may disagree with this effort, but there was something unseemly going on when those who work for a George Soros-funded group were quietly providing talking points to the media. John Gehring is an official [...]
In June, the U.S. bishops met in Atlanta, ten years after they instituted reforms to combat the sexual abuse of minors. Though there is room for honest disagreement on why the problem has almost disappeared, it is indisputable that the Catholic Church has the best record of any institution today regarding this matter. In the last [...]
